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Another launch attempt for Starship #11 today

Starship #11 on launchpad, March 28, 2021
Screen capture from LabPadre Nerdle camera live stream,
taken at 10:27 am (Central).

UPDATE: Launch scrubbed because an FAA official was unable to get to the launch site today. Next attempt set for tomorrow.

Gee, launching rockets his hard. For government officials, however, getting on an airplane and arriving on time seems far more difficult.

Original post:
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SpaceX is going to make another launch attempt today with its eleventh Starship prototype. The following live streams are presently available if you wish to watch:

When SpaceX adds its own live stream I will embed it below.

The screen capture on the right shows the status for the launch in that left column. When I captured the image they had only closed the road, which means the launch is still probably two hours away, at the least.

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11 comments

  • LabPadre is showing it scrubbed for today. Gusts at 25mph have something to do with it?

  • V-Man

    Scrubbed for today. According to Elon on Twitter:

    “FAA inspector unable to reach Starbase in time for launch today. Postponed to no earlier than tomorrow.”

    Incompetence or political pressure?

  • Jay

    V-Man,
    Don’t you know? It is a Monday. The same goes for Fridays as well.

  • David Eastman

    Scrubbed, because the FAA inspector did not arrive on time. Too bad you can’t charge the FAA for all the lost time and money..

  • David Telford

    “You Keystone Kops held up the test. That has a cost. This is the bill.” No, I don’t suppose that will work.

    What’s next, “I slept in”?

  • Doubting Thomas

    “That’s a nice space program you got there Elon, it would be a shame if something happened to it.”

    Monumental incompetence on someone’s part.

  • LTC SDS

    And an FAA inspector needs to be there, why? Maybe he didn’t have his mask for the plane trip.

  • Trent Castanaveras

    The requirement that an official of the FAA be on site is a very recent thing, added after SN 10 flew. May be part of the ongoing response to SN8 flying without “permission”.

    https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/licenses_permits/media/License%20and%20Orders%20SpaceX%20LRLO%2020-119%20Starship%20Prototype%202021-03-12%20web.pdf

    In any case, more useless bureaucratic nonsense. As if, in this pervasively digital world of instant imagery and video, and real-time data streams, anyone ever needed to physically be anywhere. What century are we in? lol

  • Trent Castanaveras

    Christian Davenport describes it succinctly on twitter:

    https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=53270.msg2212823#msg2212823

  • mkent

    Trent: Correct. SpaceX exceeded the blast overpressure limits on the SN8 flight. They had applied for a waiver, were denied, but flew anyway. SpaceX claimed it was a miscommunication, not an intentional violation. Anyone else would have been shut down for a month while the FAA investigated, but since it was SpaceX, the FAA instead sent an official on-site for test flights so there wouldn’t be any more miscommunications. Far from an example of the FAA trying to shut SpaceX down, it’s actually an example of how SpaceX gets treated better than most companies.

    In this case SpaceX had told the official on Friday that they would not fly on Monday, so the official flew home for the weekend. SpaceX changed their mind over the weekend and then publicly criticized the FAA when the official couldn’t drop everything and book a flight Sunday night to be there Monday morning.

    Now that SN11 has exploded and rained debris down on Boca Chica Village and South Padre Island, expect the limits to be tightened even more. Anyone else would be shut down while the FAA investigated, but since it’s SpaceX, who knows?

  • This is a fact because this is also trending.
    Why robot is asking me if I am sending comments too fast. My typing speed is too fast.

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